Chinatown bus lines

Chinatown bus lines are discount intercity bus services, often run by Chinese Americans and Chinese Canadians, that have been established primarily in the Chinatown communities of the East Coast of the United States and Central Canada since 1998, although similar services have cropped up on the West Coast. They operate in 24 U.S. states and 3 Canadian provinces. The vast majority of Chinatown bus lines are based out of the Northeast U.S..

The buses have been subject to controversy because of safety issues, with several fatal incidents having happened over the years. Some companies have been shut down either temporarily or permanently by regulatory authorities, while others continue to operate subject to increased safety checks. The low-overhead, low-fare services have been popular, helping to drive down the prices of competing services such as Megabus and BoltBus.

By the late 20th century, intercity bus service in the United States had fallen from 140 million annual passengers in 1960 to 40 million in 1990. The decline was such that by 1997, the year Chinatown buses started operating, intercity bus transportation accounted for only 3.6% of travel in the United States.

Chinese-operated intercity bus service originated that year when the Chinese working class found a necessity to travel from New York City, Boston, and Atlantic City. The first companies to offer such intercity bus services offered minimal features, including unmarked curbside bus stops as well as no advertisements and no customer service, which drastically reduced overhead for Chinatown bus lines. In 1998, two intercity bus companies commenced routes: the Fung Wah Bus, between New York City and Boston, and the Eastern Shuttle and New Century Travel and Tours (now Focus Travel), between New York City and Philadelphia. The bus services originally transported workers in Chinese restaurants to and from jobs in Boston, Atlantic City, Cherry Hill Mall, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., among other cities. Very few non-Chinese actually rode on the lines at first.

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